Oasis Books—the blog

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Review of First Seminar: What is a Christian?

First, let's review our
first seminar for those who were not here. That topic was the question: What is
a Christian? This seems simple, but most people who say they are Christians,
aren't. We looked at the confusing passage where Jesus declared that to be his
disciple one must deny oneself, pick up one's own cross, and follow him. We
discussed the possible options. I had thought of four, but Kevin added a fifth.
These five are:

1.Deny one's physical life
and die physically—following Jesus to physical death on a cross.

2.Deny one's tendency to
disobedience and die to unwillingness—following Jesus into willingness to
always do what is right.

3.Deny one's tendency to
rebellion and die to being uncommitted—following Jesus into commitment to
always do what is right.

4.Deny one's human desires
and die to having human desires—following Jesus in always having only God's
desires.

5.Deny one's own
righteousness as good and die to life and identity in personal
righteousness—following Jesus into His righteousness, receiving a new identity
as righteous in His work, and be given the call to proclaim as He did that
righteousness is perfection.

The first four are in
some way about behavior and in some way deny what it means to be human. My
question was: Why can't following Jesus be about Jesus?

My conclusion was that being a Christian was all about God and His goodness.
God is good and created the universe good. God allowed an intruder into the
universe to be a voice distracting Adam and Eve away from dependence on God's
goodness. They fell under the condemnation of their own conscience as well as
under God's judgment. It is good for God to provide a good way of resolution
for His fallen universe. The only good way honors both the call to the details
of goodness and the call to be faithful to the details. Since goodness includes
freedom from moral imperfection, and humans have no ability to be free from
moral imperfection, the only good hope for humans is for them to be free from
obligation to goodness. Since God is good, it naturally follows that He would
in a good way free His creatures from the obligation to be faithful by carrying
that burden Himself. This means that substitution is the only good way for Him
to do this. Since God is good, He naturally will provide a good way for
His image bearers to have a good relationship with Him. That good relationship
is called being a Christian. The good way into becoming a Christian is personal
and non-manipulative. Jesus is the way, truth, life, peace, holiness, righteousness,
redemption, light and more for a Christian. He is both the way into the new
relationship and the way of life once in that new relationship. Since God is
good, all of life is His responsibility to provide and maintain. Therefore, a
Christian is a person who has a good relationship with God—a relationship that
is good in all aspects. A Christian is alive in God's goodness—God's
righteousness—God's faithfulness—and is free from the pressure of his own
righteousness, his own faithfulness, and his own goodness. Again, God initiates and
maintains this relationship. It is beautiful to be in a good relationship
with God. So being a Christian is a real experience with God's goodness—a
continuous experience of righteousness as perfection and as a gift. Aren't
you glad that all the pressure is on Him?

TODAY'S TOPIC: WHAT IS SIN?

Our topic for today is
the question: What is sin? We Christians have a good and simple way of defining
sin. What have you heard or said? Sin is missing the mark. You may have even
explained sin as an archery term for missing the target. Is it always obvious
what sin is—what the target is that a person is not hitting? Since we
Christians sometimes argue about sin, I suspect that this is not always
obvious.

Satan is a Counterfeiter

We here all believe that
Satan is our enemy and that he seeks to trick us into believing his lies. How
does he trick us? Does he come right out and boldly declare that he is going to
trick us? Does He tell us that stealing and murder are good things and that
therefore we should do them as much as we want? If he operated this way, we
would almost never buy his lies. In the real world he seeks to deceive us by
first counterfeiting some point of God's goodness. Then he shows us the
counterfeit in some deceitful way so that we will think that it is the real
thing. Then, if we think it is real, we will operate in life as if it were
real. Do you agree that life is a spiritual battle and that it is easy for us
to get fooled by the world's counterfeits? Do you think that Satan desires us
to be at least a little bit confused about everything?

Is There a Counterfeit of Sin?

If Satan wants us to be
confused about everything, then do you think he would seek to counterfeit bad
things, too, like laziness, legalism, worldliness, or sin? In other words, is
there counterfeit sin that we need to be alert to avoid? This seems a little
strange at first, but if Satan wants us to be confused, then he would want us
to be confused about what is bad, too. If there is a counterfeit sin, then we
should evaluate what we think or hear about the target. Does Satan have a
counterfeit target that he wants us to focus on? If so, how can we discern it?
First, we need to remember that a counterfeit looks very much like the real
thing. Therefore, counterfeit sin looks very much like real sin.

A Counterfeit has no authority

The difference between a
counterfeit and the real thing is authority. US dollars are backed by the
authority of the US government. We properly trust these dollars for financial
transactions. In the past some counterfeit dollars looked exactly like the real
ones, but they were still illegal because they had no authority. But some
people were tricked to trust them.

God's ways are backed by His authority. Satan's counterfeits have only an
appearance of authority. Satan seeks to fool us into trusting that his
counterfeit is the real thing. If we trust that it is real, then we will
embrace it as a good way to function in life. At first glance a
counterfeit seems good, but upon close inspection it can be seen as a
forgery.

Fortunately, my illustration breaks down at the right place. Currency is
physical and thus counterfeits can be made that have an identical appearance to
authorized currency. In such a case there is no way to detect bogus bills. The
government has to work hard to stop the production of perfect imitations.
Satan's counterfeits are not physical; they are about ways of thinking about
life. Therefore, his counterfeit is always detectable upon close
inspection.

It is not good to be tricked or intimidated by counterfeits. Therefore, it is
not good to stay naive about Satan's tricks. The way to not be tricked is 1) to
become very familiar with the simplicity of God's goodness, and 2) to learn
God's mark that is on all his ways and that is missing from every
counterfeit.

What is that mark?

Satan Counterfeits Goodness

How many of you have
heard or thought that Satan wants you to do evil things, such as stealing,
murder, hatred, gossip, slander, or envy? When we think this way, we have
already been tricked to look at the symptoms of a problem and not at its
cause. Satan and the world preach not that a person should do evil, but
that a person should do good. God also calls us to do good. If God and
Satan both call us to do what is good, then doesn't that leave us stuck in the
middle of the war between them? It is not good for God to leave us stuck like
this. Therefore, there must be a good way forward in discerning the difference
between God's voice and Satan's voice. The door into understanding the
difference begins with understanding that Satan counterfeits goodness. This is
a huge step forward because Satan seeks to hide the fact that he is a
counterfeiter. He wants us to think of him as a promoter of evil thinking and
behavior. Mormons have told me that Satan would never entice a person to do
what is good. This is in their Book of Mormon. I see in the Bible that Satan
always starts with some point of God's goodness, then twists it subtly so that
we think that it is still good, so that we might swallow his twisted version of
goodness. The second important and critical step is to notice how he
counterfeits goodness.

Satan's Counterfeit is Simple...Always Simple

Satan simply removes
God's identifying mark. All of God's ways contain that mark and all
counterfeits lack that mark. In a sense, Satan is always missing the mark as he
hates God's mark and seeks to hide and deny God's mark. In First John 3:8 we
read that Satan has been sinning from the beginning. This means that he has
been missing the mark from the beginning. We Christians teach that Satan is
always seeking to get us to miss the mark. In our archery illustration, and at
first glance, Satan's target is identical to God's target except for God's
identifying mark of authority. It seems that Satan wants to trick us to shoot
at his target instead of God's. But reality is simpler and more subtle. Paul
declares that we are transformed by the renewing of the mind. Therefore,
Satan's real strategy is to stand beside God's target and point at it in such a
way that distracts us from noticing God's mark on the target. The mark is
there, but it is easily overlooked. I am convinced that Satan's total strategy
is to get us to get so focused on various parts of God's target that we don't
notice God's mark. And when we do that, we are in his trap. We all are called
to become experts at noticing and remembering God's mark on the target.

The target is God's vision for us of what is good in life in thought, word, and
deed. So, in a humorous sense, we Christians sin and miss the mark that we are
trying to hit—we have bad thoughts or behavior—because we are missing (lacking)
awareness of God's mark on the target. We miss the mark because we don't have
God's mark in view. God's mark is God's authority. It is a declaration that goodness
is all or nothing—that it is good to do individual good things, but it is never
good to miss any good thing—that only perfect goodness counts—that only moral
perfection is good. This is what Satan seeks to distract us from.

Goodness is a seamless whole. James declares that if a person does everything
good and misses just one point, then he is guilty of wrecking everything. Satan
continually tells you to do good things, but he never says that you have to be
perfect. He even declares that we shouldn't worry about being perfect.

What is the The Mark?

God always declares that
the mark that is to be hit is perfect goodness in all its individual points and
in its wholeness. Satan always declares that the mark to be hit is some
individual good thing. Individual good points are good, but wholeness of
goodness is good too. Wholeness is the key ingredient to goodness. Satan never
mentions the wholeness of goodness except to belittle it. When we neglect to
consider the wholeness of goodness we are not walking in God's authority. And
to not walk in God's authority is sin—missing the mark.

Jesus Died to Free Us from Sin—Two Kinds of
Sin and Two Surprises

The New Testament states
in various ways that a Christian is free from sin. John even declares that a
Christian cannot sin. How is this possible since Christians do bad things every
day? To avoid serious confusion, it is critical that we embrace John's teaching
in 1John 5:16 that there are two kinds of sin: sin that leads to death and sin
that does not lead to death. What is the difference?

Jesus did not die to make us robots. He died to set us free from both types of
sin. But this freedom is about Him and not about us. This is a very difficult
thing to grasp: your freedom from sin is not about you.

Every person is born in sin, which means that we all are born under the
obligation to do what is good or face eternal consequences. It also means that
we are born addicted to finding some goodness in ourselves rather than in our
creator. Jesus died the death we deserve in order to offer us a new kind of
relationship with God—one where we are dead to our identity in personal
righteousness and alive in Christ's righteousness. Sin is violation of the law
and every Christian is dead to the law. This means that every Christian has
diplomatic immunity, which is freedom from obligation to keep the law.

So, in one sense a Christian can't sin because God can't count a Christian's
sins. Jesus has died the death we deserve and if we are in Christ, then His
death is ours, and His life is ours, too. It is not that we can't do bad things
but that God counts our badness against Christ. This is the first type of sin
and the first surprise.

In another sense, Christians do sin; we do bad things. The surprise is that the
only reason we do them is because we forget our freedom. In Christ we are free
to do as many bad things as we want, and we do as many bad things as we want.
But when we remember the cost and meaning of our freedom in Christ, then we
don't do bad things. You do bad things because you are not thinking about the
wholeness of goodness and Jesus' good sacrifice that bought your freedom. And
when you are not seeing this for yourself then you certainly are not seeing it
for others. If you doubt me, then try an experiment. The next time you find
yourself upset at someone, ask yourself what you are thinking about. You will
discover that you are not thinking about God's perfection and Christ's
sin-bearing love at the cross. Guaranteed. This is the second type of sin and
the second surprise.

Good Works Flow Naturally

Life is simple. We are
too weak to resist God's goodness. When we think about goodness rightly, then
goodness flows out of us naturally, and we don't forget to do any good works.
James 1:25 declares this clearly. The goodness in our hearts sweeps us along
into good works WHEN—and only when—we are properly focused on goodness. Doing
good works is not about us but about His goodness in us.

Christianity is not just
a way to get to heaven, it is a new way of life based on Christ's faithfulness.
We get into Christ by resting in His faithfulness—by being satisfied with His
goodness. It is good to always be satisfied with His faithfulness, and so it is
no surprise that we Christians are called to always find our satisfaction
there. When we do that, we are free from sins of thought, word, and deed. If
God is your satisfaction, why go back to seeking satisfaction in imperfect human
performance—yours, mine, or anyone's? This is your temptation.

Have you noticed that
you have only one temptation? But Satan counterfeits that one in order to trick
you into fighting the wrong battle. Temptation is an upcoming topic.

Application

Thank the Father often that

He is fully satisfied with the finished work of Christ.

Good works overflow naturally out of a vision of His goodness.

Comparison to Christ's perfection is the only good way to evaluate life.

Christ has already put away all sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Pray this often for yourself and often for other saints who come to mind—especially for those who rub you the wrong way.

Saturday, March 23, 2019

The grace of God is beautiful and glorious. Since it is not good to abuse what is beautiful, do you think that it is good to abuse God's grace? I suggest that this topic is full of surprises. Let's begin by making the issue personal.

Do you think that you have ever abused the grace of God?

If so, how did you abuse it?

If you were only pretending to abuse grace, would you want to know?

I suggest that you were only pretending to abuse God's grace. Read on to discover what you were really doing when you were pretending to abuse grace.

The Abuse of Grace: an Important Concern

Does the abuse of grace concern you? Have you heard anyone express concern about the abuse of grace? I have read this concern in books and heard it in sermons. Mostly I have heard it in my many hundred annual conversationsabout grace with non-Christians.

The Reason for Concern about the Abuse of Grace

When I have declared that a person's forgiveness with God is guaranteed by the the sin-bearing death of Christ apart from any personal works, my non-Christian hearer has more than occasionally responded with concern that such a guarantee would give a person a license to sin. We Christians commonly emphasize our point with non-Christians by quoting Paul's declaration "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9).It is common for non-Christians to continue their objection and declare that guaranteed forgiveness would mean that God doesn't care about good works. At this point it is common for a seasoned evangelist to respond that God actually does highly valuegood works and indicate such by quoting the next verse, Ephesians 2:10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." This has generally not persuaded my non-Christian hearers. After many hundred such conversations I have concluded that the critics of guaranteed forgiveness are not really concerned about good works—though they declare that they are and I suspect that they honestly think that they are. But in listening closely to those who disagree on this point, it seems clear to me that what they are really concerned about is human effort. Since it is good to do good, they unwittingly think that good works are sourced in human effort—in trying to do good.Many true Christians have expressed to me a concern about specific non-Christians, Christians, pastors, or authors—that these people are abusing grace. Have you ever wondered if another Christian might be abusing grace?

Have you heard a non-Christian declare that Christians are abusing grace?

Have you heard a Christian express concern that some Christians are abusing grace?

Who is Concerned About the Abuse of Grace?

My conclusion from much reading, discussion, and meditation of scripture is that God is also concerned about the abuse of grace. Who do you think is the most concerned about this issue: you, me, your pastor, your favorite theologian, the apostle Paul, or God?

I find that framing issues in terms of questions helps me to notice my confusion. Let's go back to the beginning and apply some questions to the assumption that you weren't pretending but were actually abusing grace.

Is it good to abuse grace? Yes or No

Can you abuse grace? Yes or No

How can you abuse grace? Pause and write down your understanding of how grace is abused and how you have done it. If you are unsure then write down what you have heard other people say that it means. Note: Jude 1:4 may be the scripture you have heard used to explain this issue. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What prevents you from abusing grace? Pause and write down what you understand or what you have heard. Note: Romans 6:1-2 may be the scripture you have heard used to urge people not to abuse grace. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Are you meeting the standard you set in your answer to question 4? Write down the name of one or two people you think might be meeting those standards. Write out your understanding of the proper standard for evaluation of abusing grace or preventing the abuse of grace. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Who is Responsible to Prevent the Abuse of Grace?

If it is not good to abuse grace, then God must have a way for grace to not be abused.

Who is responsible to carry out God's way? Write down your understanding of who is responsible. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Is God's way being successfully carried out by whomever you named. Explain if necessary. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In all your pondering of my above questions, did you consider God as the person who might be responsible to prevent the abuse of grace? Let me ask the question more clearly.

Who is responsible to prevent the abuse of grace: God or humans?

James Denney's Insight: God Guarantees that Grace Cannot be Abused

James Denney was a Scottish theologian and pastor. I. Howard Marshall called Denney the theologian's theologian. I find reading Denney to be like Jeremiah's experience of having his heart on fire while seeing the Lord as our dread champion (Jer. 20:9-11). Denney saw all of life and theology to be about the sin-bearing love of Christ. In 1894 Denney gave a series of lectures at a seminary in Chicago. The lectures were promptly published as Studies in Theology. Currently there is one review of the book on Amazon Kindle. It is a very long review in which the pastor author declares: "I want to explore this point further to attempt an answer to a perplexing and disturbing question: Why has the evangelical church in America refused to embrace wholeheartedly this uniquely gifted pastor/theologian whose passionate expositions of the Gospel far exceed anything that has been written or preached in the entire twentieth century?"The author ends by urging saints to read Denney with an honest heart.

Here is Denney's bold and surprisingly simple declaration that God is the only one who is responsible to prevent the abuse of grace and He does it perfectly. At the end of this post is the quote in a lengthy context that is full of light and life.

"But in the death of Christ, and in faith laying hold of that death, we have the security against such abuses of the grace of God." page 146

Here are four explicit or implicit declarations in Denney's sentence.

God is responsible to prevent the abuse of grace.

God guarantees, secures, and enables that grace cannot be abused on any condition.

Thus it is impossible to abuse God's grace.

God's way to perfectly prevent the abuse of grace is through the death of Christ, and the faith that lays hold of that death.

According to Denney, God's grace cannot be abused; therefore no human has any participation in abusing or preventing the abuse of grace. This should make us sigh with relief. Points 1 to 3 are equivalent statements that God makes it impossible to abuse grace. Point 4 summarizes how God does it. Is his meaning clear to you, even if you disagree with him?

Reading Denney takes some getting used to. It isn't that Denney uses too much academic language or lacks clarity of style. The exact opposite is the issue. We are the problem. First, we are not used to Denney's clarity. We are used to talking in circles and fooling ourselves into thinking that we are saying something useful. Second, we are used to using words in artificial ways that are disconnected from real life. Denney chooses his words so very carefully and roots them so deeply in the reality of life, that we feel intimidated. How can life be that clear and simple? Denney declares in the book "that the more we reflect upon it [the sin-bearing death of Christ] the more we shall be convinced that it is as simple as it is great." Wow! The great scholar declares that the atonement is very great and very simple. Can you explain how both are true?

Thank the Father often that grace cannot be abused.

Thank the Father often that the sin-bearing death of Christ is the door into freedom.

Thank the Father often that true faith lays hold of the sin-bearing love of Christ.

If Grace Cannot Be Abused, Then Why is there a Problem?

First, we need to notice our common confusion about grace. If grace means unmerited favor, then why do we so often use it as a synonym for kindness or leniency? My Mormon culture has much helped me notice my confusion. In my culture grace has two common definitions: God's help to keep the commandments and God's additional chances to keep the commandments. These are both moralistic and un-scriptural. Let's remove more potential confusion from unmerited favor by sharpening our definition of grace as a relationship of total freedom from merited favor. This clearly implies that there is zero pressure from any source of obligation, duty or rules. Unmerited favor is not like an empty jar that used to contain law, though for many years I was trapped in that confusion. Unmerited favor is like a jar full of the performance of Christ, which always honors the perfection of the law. Every true Christian is full of the unmerited favor of God—of the performance of Christ, which is the life of Christ. Have you been tricked to seek to live your old life better rather than to live the new life? Paul declared in Galatians 2:20 that "you no longer live, but Christ lives in you and that the life that you now live in the flesh [the realm of human faithfulness] you live by the faithfulness of the Son of God."

Second, the apostles speak much about forgetting and remembering and the power of both. Let's use Peter's letters. In the first letter he commands his readers to set their hope completely on the unmerited favor brought to them in Christ (1:13) At the end of the letter he commands his readers to stand firm in unmerited favor (5:12). Every word in the letter is an explanation of the power of unmerited favor. In 4:1-2 Peter declares that unmerited favor frees a person from sinning—from doing evil. "One who has suffered [experienced strong emotion with Christ] in the flesh [the realm of human faithfulness] has ceased from sin [rebellion against goodness] so as to live in this world for the desire of God." Let's be honest. Do you agree with Peter that unmerited favor frees a person from doing evil? If this seems unrealistic to you, then I suggest that you don't understand the simplicity and power of standing firm in unmerited favor. Christ's life is yours to live now, but Satan seeks to trick you to try to live your old life better. Read Peter's second letter and notice in the first chapter his triple declaration of the call to remember unmerited favor, which is the performance of Christ. Also notice that Peter declares that bad fruit is the result of forgetting unmerited favor. Can life really be this simple?

The Problem is Forgetfulness of Christ's Performance

You can't abuse unmerited favor, but you do have a problem. It is a problem of vision. Your every sin has been a natural result of disregarding Peter's commands to stand firm in unmerited favor—to set your hope completely on the performance of Christ—to resist the devil by standing firm in the faith [which means Jesus' faithfulness] (5:9). When you expect a person to be perfect and for Jesus' sacrifice to be enough for that person, it is impossible for you to be surprised and upset by the person's failure to perform. But when you lower your expectations from Christ, you are on your own. You are seeking to manage or control life your way and God doesn't support that way. This is not your job and you should not be surprised by your bad reactions. Also, since it is wickedness to lower God's expectations, why do it? This means that all the sins of people result from the disregard of Peter's commands. Let's get over ourselves.

I have discussed this with many hundred people [Christians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, agnostics] in the past two years. Recently I discussed these matters with an old Chinese woman who didn't believe in God. She had heard of the Bible and Jesus but knew nothing about them. She was surprised to hear that Jesus had never done evil. She said that she should always do good, never do wrong. She feels bad when she does wrong. We started there and laughed together much as we talked about the power of comparing ourselves to perfection and the evil of lowering expectations to control other people. By the end of the long conversation she was surprised to understand the reason for her bad reactions, the importance of always judging life compared to perfection, which is Jesus, and her need to be free from having to obey her conscience. It made sense that God wanted to take her place in death to free her to do good without pressure. She gladly took a bilingual New Testament and materials I have written on this topic.

What Were You Pretending When You Thought You Were Abusing Grace?

As you began reading this article, were you worried that you might have abused grace? You may even have been a bit worried about God's reaction against your possible abuse, but God knew that you were only pretending to abuse grace, even if you didn't know. This should be a relief and comfort for you about yourself and about all other people. God has guaranteed that grace cannot be abused, but He hasn't guaranteed that grace cannot be forgotten or neglected.

Pause to let that sink in.

All evil has already been put away by the sacrifice of Christ (Heb 9:26). Why not embrace God's way of sin management? All evil is a result of neglecting, forgetting, or losing focus on God's way of managing life. Distraction from the simplicity and purity of Christ is Paul's great fear (2Cor. 11:3). Are you familiar with Paul's words here? Have you ever heard a sermon on this passage or matter? This is Paul's introduction to his description of Satan and his helpers as counterfeiters of righteousness. I suggest that we need imitate Paul and make his concern ours.

Context for the Quote from James Denney

James Denney's words are simple and piercing. They cut through human pretenses, discomforting our pride. But is it possible that you have some blind spots that you need help to notice? Below is some context for Denney's declaration [in green] that God guarantees that grace cannot be abused. The passage is multicolored to facilitate meditation. I plan to write soon a post on his last sentence about miserable theology.

"This suggests the last remark which I would make on the subject. Reflection on the atonement, a recent theologian has observed, has in our time proceeded mainly under two impulses: (1) the desire to find spiritual laws which will make the atonement itself intelligible; (2) the desire to find spiritual laws which connect the atonement with the new life springing from it. The legitimacy of these desires no one will contest. There is certainly work for theologians to do under both of them. It has always been too easy, referring to this last point first, to treat the atonement as one thing, and the new life as another, without establishing any connection whatever between them.It has always been too easy, in teaching that Christ bore our sins and died our death, to give conscience an opiate, instead of quickening it into newness of life.It is a task for those who hold such a doctrine of Christ’s work in relation to sin, as I have just been asserting, to show that there is a natural, intelligible inspiration to a new life in the acceptance of it, and that it cannot be lodged in the heart, in all its integrity, and leave the life, as it was before, under the dominion of sin.Even in New Testament times the gospel which Paul preached was accused of antinomianism; and so will every gospel be accused which makes pardon a reality.But in the death of Christ, and in faith laying hold of that death, we have the security against such abuses of the grace of God.To accept the forgiveness so won is to accept forgiveness which has in it God’s judgment upon sin, as well as His mercy to the sinful; it is to have the conscience awed, subdued, made tender and sensitive to the holy will of God, and the heart bowed in infinite gratitude to His love.It is not the law which can secure its own fulfillment; it is not by gazing on the tables of stone that we are made good men.It is by standing at Mount Calvary, and taking into our hearts in faith that love which for us men and for our salvation bore our sins upon the tree.It would be a miserable theology that by any defect in this direction gave room to think of Christ as the minister of sin." pp.148-9

Do you want to be honest about your addiction?

If you are interested in being honest about your blind spots, and becoming sensitive to your addiction to minimizing them, then I suggest a simple starting point for application. This will be painful to your pride but a real blessing to the people around you. Pray regularly variations of the following.The following is a bit long for effect, but short pieces of conversation with God are good. There is no need to be formal; simply talk to God as if he were right next to you. The point is to learn to become sensitive to you weakness and need for community--for God and others. Notice as you read the following if you hear a voice telling you that you don't really need this.

"Father, thank you that Jesus is all my righteousness, holiness and wisdom. Thank you that Jesus has carried all my condemnation, shame and guilt. Thank you that my weakness is the place where your strength is made perfect. Thank you that Jesus is my new identity and that I don't need to pretend to be someone that I am not. Thank you for helping me realize that it is not good for me to have blind spots because they lead me into confusion. Thank you that you are always with me even when I get tricked by my pride into confusion. Thank you for giving me other people to remind me of your goodness and to help me notice my blind spots. Thank you that critics are always good for me to help me discover more of my blind spots or to reveal my defensiveness or other character flaws. Thank you that critics are good for me even when they have a bad attitude or are completely wrong.

"Thank you that you are my defender and you don't need my help. Thank you for declaring in the scriptures that a wise person always responds in love toward critics, even harsh ones, and that it is fools who have bad reactions. I admit that I am addicted to minimizing the seriousness of my blind spots. It seems that I often would rather be a fool than a wise person and would rather mistreat a person Christ died for than to doubt my own virtue or rightness. You have sent me saints to help me grow in wisdom and I have many times mocked them in telling them that they didn't need to remind me. I have many times been irritated or angry at your dear saints for criticizing me, even the ones I realized later had valid criticism. This is not good and is a huge blind spot. Thank you that even when I mistreat people you value highly, you never condemn me, shake your finger at me or stop rejoicing over me in Christ. Even when the critic is wrong, a wise person would have listened closely and been glad and thankful that the person cared enough to offer help, and risk getting rejected. Thank you for being patient with me and not treating me like I treat others. Thank you that you don't keep score on my critics even though I too often do. I wonder if some people have given up on offering me insight because I have been so dismissive or irritated toward them in the past. I am concerned about the blind spots of other people, and get critical that they don't seem to want to be honest about them. So why am I so insensitive about my own blind spots? Do I think I am above correction, or am I just afraid of admitting that I am weak and need other people? This is a big problem in my life and is hindering my relationship with others.

"Please bring me some critics to help me notice some blind spots and especially to help me become sensitive to my prideful defensiveness about my blind spots. And please bring me one friend whom I can trust to be gentle so that I can invite that person to point out my blind spots. I would like to start slow, so please be gentle with me. But if I am so prideful that gentleness won't work, then please do whatever it takes to soften my heart. Thank you that your ways are always good. In Jesus Christ I pray. Amen."

Questions for reflection

Can you remember a time when you attempted to offer someone a gentle suggestion and the person responded in a defensive way?

Did you appreciate that defensive reaction? Did you think it was good?

How did it affect you?

Think back to a recent time that someone criticized you. Did you welcome the criticism as an opportunity to grow in understanding? Or did you react defensively as if it were a threat to your security or rightness?

Would that critic tell me that he felt warmly welcomed when offering you his criticism?

Would that critic tell me that you made it easy or difficult for him to offer his insight?

Think back again, but this time as long ago as it takes to a time when you invited someone to offer you an insight or an opinion. Notice if you can even remember having this experience.

Can you remember asking a person for their criticism, insight or opinion when you were confident the person was going to disagree with you or point out your weakness?

Self-honesty is the point of these questions. Likely only God heard your answers. We all have room to grow in this area, but I suggest we each need to come to a place of embracing our need to grow rather than remaining unaware or apathetic about that need. It is obvious that we all do need to grow, and all do grow at some pace, even if we are unaware of it. The point of this writing is that it is good to actively embrace that need and become aware of our addiction to suppressing, resisting and hindering growth in this area.

Certainly those who are close to me would appreciate me gladly inviting their suggestions, insights, and criticism and asking clarifying questions instead of resisting and hindering such conversations. As mature adults we should be able to thrive on criticism. I read somewhere recently that only children take offense; mature adults don't. What does that say about your maturity level?

Saturday, December 29, 2018

Do you think that it is good for you to love other people? How often do you think that God wants you to take a break from loving other people? Is it good to get impatient, frustrated or angry toward other people? Can you remember having a bad reaction toward someone in the past year? Why do you think you had that bad reaction? Ponder this a moment before reading further.

Haley’s
Conversation of Surprises

RecentlyHaley stopped
by the free book table at USU and joined conversation with Kyle and
me. Both spoke like active Mormons. I commonly get at our rebellion and our
need for Christ by asking about a person's experience of struggling to love
others. Here is the sense of our conversation that revealed to her surprises in
her heart (understanding). This reflects very many conversations I have had the
past 2 years.

Read along as if you were Haley.

Me: Do you ever struggle
in loving others?

Haley: Sometimes.

Me: Do you know why you
struggle?

Haley: I am an imperfect person.

Me: That sounds like an
excuse to me. I know why you have done every evil thing you have ever done. You
know it too but don't realize that you know it. Would you like to hear what I
mean?

Haley: Yes, I would.

Me: It is easier to understand
this matter if we evaluate our experience. Theoretical conversation often
leaves us confused. Here is a simple example that has helped me.

The sun and moon illustration

Me: The sun and
moon both light our world, but shine for different reasons. What is the
difference?

Haley: The sun has its own
light, but the moon only reflects the light from the sun.

Me: How much light of its
own does the moon have?

Haley: None.

Me: Even though the moon
has no light of its own it does a good job lighting our world. We get the
benefit. The moon’s role is to be a reflector of light. The sun's role is to be
a source of light. Isn't this what we learned in school?

Haley: Yes

Me: I suggest that this
can help us understand our role in life. God is good. He is the source of all
goodness and created the world in a good way to display his goodness. He
created us in his image to be in a good relationship with him where we would
live in his goodness and shine out his goodness in all directions. This keeps
pride out of life. Do you like this illustration?

Haley: Yes, it makes sense to me.

Me: There is a
difference between the moon and us. The moon is not a person. Light simply
reflects off of its surface. The moon doesn’t think about it. But we are people
who live from the heart. God’s goodness and love flow from our hearts while we
are properly focused on his love and goodness.

How do we shine out God's love?

Me: Here is how it works. Can you think
of a recent time when you got irritated, impatient or frustrated with someone?
We all have these experiences.

Haley: I am thinking of one.

Me: Don't tell me about
it. Just keep that experience in mind.

Haley: Okay.

Me: Let’s start simple. Do
you believe in God?

Haley: Yes.

Me: Do you believe that
God is love?

Haley: Yes.

Me: Do you believe that
God showed his love by sending Jesus to die for your sins?

Haley: Yes.

Me: For all your sins?

Haley: Yes.

Me: So, all your sins are
forgiven?

Haley: Yes.

Me: That is wonderful. Do
you ever beat yourself up for your failures?

Haley: Very often.

Me: Is God's love only
for you or for other people, too?

Haley: God loves everyone
and Jesus died for everyone.

Me: Did Jesus die so that
everyone could be completely forgiven?

Haley: Yes.

Me: We are on the same page. Go back to
your experience of being irritated. Does God love that person and did Jesus die
to take away all that person's sins?

Haley: Yes.

Me: Are you sure?

Haley: Positive.

Me: While you were
irritated at that person, were you thinking about how much God loved her and
that Jesus died to forgive all her sins?

Haley: (with a surprised
look) No, I wasn't, but I should have been.

Me: Everyone tells me
that. They should have been thinking love but weren't.

The experience of remembering Jesus' death for sinners

Let's say that one day
you were praying for that person who gets under your skin and thanking God for
loving her and sending Jesus to die to take away all her sins. And let's say that
while you were praying this way, the woman came up to you and did the thing
that often irritates you. While you were praying or thinking this, do you think
that you would have gotten irritated?

Haley: (in surprise) No, not
while I was thinking that. But I might forget easily.

Me: Isn't that
interesting. While you are thinking of God's love, you don't get irritated. I
have asked many people about this and they all describe the same experience.

The experience of seeing people properly

Me: There is one other surprise about Jesus that helps us understand our experience
of not loving others. Is it good for you to look down on me so that you can
feel good about yourself?

Haley: No.

Me: Is it good for me to
look down on you so that I can feel good about myself?

Haley: You should not do it
either. No one should, but everybody does it.

Me: That is painful but true. Then how
should we compare ourselves?

Haley: We should look up and
compare ourselves to Jesus.

Me: That is good to do,
but our pride doesn’t like it. Is it ever okay to lower the standard from Jesus?

Haley: No. We should never
do that.

Me: I agree with you
completely. Go back to your experience of irritation. While you were irritated,
were you comparing that person to Jesus?

Haley: (in surprise) No. I
was thinking about what she did wrong.

The experience of forgetting love

Me: You simply forgot
that your place in life was to see that God manages her through love. The
situation needed to be managed and you took matters into your own hands,
lowering the standard and managing her through rules. It gets ugly when we do
this. And we do this more that we realize. Our bad reactions always have this
same cause. Jesus reveals the love of God through his perfection and death in
our place. While we are remembering these two things, God's management through love
overflows from our hearts. And it works this way for everyone else too.

Why is it easy to forget love?

Me: Here is the reason
that we so easily forget God’s way. Go back to our illustration of the sun and
moon. The moon shines brightly unless something happens. What can stop the moon from shining?

Haley: When there is an eclipse.

Me: For us the
problem is different. No one else can block light from us. But we
can self-eclipse. we can block the light from ourselves by forgetting our proper place of dependence
on God’s goodness and love. We are made in God’s image and feel deeply his imprint
that it is good to be a source of goodness. But that is his role in life. It
isn’t yours, or mine or anyone else’s. We thrive when we are satisfied with our role as
receivers of love and goodness. While we are satisfied this way, we overflow properly with
his love and goodness to those around us, even while they are causing us
trouble. But when we get tricked into forgetting our role, then we can have bad reactions.

The experience of self-condemnation

Let’s go back to
something you said earlier. You said that Jesus died for you and that you are
completely forgiven. Am I remembering correctly?

Haley: Yes,
that is true.

Me: Has Jesus taken all
your condemnation, shame, and guilt?

Haley: YesHH

Me: Has he taken all your
beatings?

Haley: Yes

Me: It sound like you
believe that Jesus is enough for you for all of life.

Haley: He
is enough for me.

Me: I really like what you
are saying. But if Jesus is enough for you for everything, and has taken all
your beatings, condemnation, and shame, then why did you tell me that you often
beat yourself up for your failings?

Haley: (surprised
and embarrassed) I don’t know.

Me: (smiling) You forgot
Jesus and in forgetting Jesus you tried to do his job. You were pretending to
be God. This is really bad. Jesus took all your beatings and you believed the
lie that there are some left for you to carry. Right?

Haley: (smiling)
Yes

A testimony of how we experience change

Me: It is not good to
believe this lie but we all do sometimes. I suggest that you are too weak to change, but there is hope
because God wants to change you. Your job is simple—to trust him to do it by
you remembering who Jesus is for you. The most natural way to remember is to
pray without asking. Here is a testimony I wrote about my friend Pat, who was
diagnosed with three mental illnesses and was nearly always super depressed. He
read the Bible much and memorized many verses, but couldn’t escape his
depression. He was so depressed that some people felt depressed just being around
him. After many years of seeking to encourage him, in 2000 I gave him a piece
of paper containing four Bible verses simplified into a prayer of thankfulness
for who Jesus is for him. I told him to pray that daily. He said he couldn’t
because it was too hard. But he somehow began to pray it. After five months he began to
smile and now after 18 years he is consistently cheerful and seeks out
discouraged people to encourage them. Please take a copy and follow his simple
example. Pray as often as you want, thanking God for what you told me is true.
Don’t ask for anything. Just thank God something like this. “Father, thank you
that Jesus is enough for me for all of life. Thank you that Jesus carries all
my sins. Thank you that Jesus has taken all my shame, guilt and beatings.” As
the months go by you may notice that your mind more easily goes to what Jesus
has done for you.

The beauty of self-honesty

Haley: I
have been thanking God for my family, friends and church…

(beginning to cry) but
I have forgotten to thank him for what Jesus has done for me.

Me: Don’t beat yourself up. Simply start today
thanking God for who Jesus is for you. He is enough for you for all of life.

Haley: Please
may I take Pat’s story?

Me: Yes of course. You
likely know someone else who struggles with self-condemnation, with whom you could
share the story after you begin practicing it. We need each other. I am glad
for our conversation. I am here on Wednesdays in good weather. Feel free to
come downtown to Oasis Books inside the Great Harvest Bakery if you want to
talk on other days.

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One of our missions is to encourage local Christians to share the Gospel!

We carry tracts, books and Bibles that can be used in witnessing. We have written pamphlets on various aspects of grace for saints and sinners. Our staff enjoys discussing practical matters of evangelism. Stop by and join the conversation.

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We began open-air preaching at USU in September of 2007 and now preach during the fall and spring all day 3 days weekly on the beautiful plaza outside the student center with 2 white boards and a table full of free books. Students come by to read the daily quotes, to talk, or take free books. If you are interested in helping out, stop by or give us a call at 435-753-8697. Photos of the white board quotes are on our FaceBook page.